Got to Be
by Nightcrawlerlover
Summary: AU; set after Chosen. Inspired by Got to Be by Latch Key Kid. Dawn remembers what Buffy had told her before jumping off the tower in The Gift and what happened after Spike saved Buffy from combusting in Once More with Feeling before writing in her journal.


**Hey there, my fellow writers and readers. :) I hope you're well. Here's a new BtVS oneshot that I cooked up one day. I figured that the title of the song Got to Be by Latch Key Kid would make an awesome title for a fanfic, so that is what I decided to go with.**

**As this is Alternate Universe, Sunnydale isn't destroyed after the Battle of the Hellmouth, and Spike has not been killed, either.**

**Disclaimer: Genius Joss Whedon owns Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The lyrics to Got to Be by Latch Key Kid and Something to Sing About (from the Season 6 episode Once More with Feeling) belong to their respective owners. I own the fanfics that I cook up from time to time.**

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Got to Be

Seventeen-year-old Dawn Summers, her azure eyes shining, let a smile cross her face as she sat on her bed, listening to the song Got to Be by Latch Key Kid. The lyric "I wanna be a key" reminded her of herself – but just a little, however. To be more precise, she meant three years ago.

_Wherever the wind blows  
That's where I'm gonna go  
Wherever it takes me  
That's where I wanna be_

_Got to be_  
_Got to be_  
_Got to be_  
_Got to believe_  
_Got to see it to believe_

She was fourteen then, and she had realized that she was the Key, the shaper of worlds and dimensions. And since she and her older sister Buffy shared "Summers blood" (as Buffy so eloquently put it), her blood was what opened the portal. On the other hand, Buffy's blood closed it when Buffy took a swan dive off the tower and into the portal. Sadly, although her noble self-sacrifice helped close the portal for good, it also killed Buffy.

But now, thankfully, the hell-goddess Glorificus (aka Glory), who wanted the Key part of Dawn in order to get back home, was gone, and Buffy was back in the land of the living thanks to the resurrection spell cast by Willow (who, of course, had become quite a powerful witch in quite some time).

It took a while for Buffy to adjust to being alive again, but in the end, it was worth it. Dawn was now a normal girl.

From Dawn's perspective, that was definitely a good thing in and of itself.

Dawn then remembered what had happened when Sweet, the Musical Demon, had come to Sunnydale. He sent his minions to the Summers house, where they abducted Dawn after she put on his talisman and took her to the nightclub that was known as The Bronze (and was also a favorite hangout of the Scooby Gang).

Speaking of which, The Bronze was located in the bad part of town, and was also considered safe, except for the occasional attack by a vampire.

When Buffy came to The Bronze along with her friends – Giles, Willow, Xander, Anya and Tara – it was then that Dawn realized that confession was good for the soul. In this case, however, the confessions were conveyed through singing and dancing (although she did think the combustions were a little extreme – actually more like a lot extreme at that).

But Dawn secretly loved the part where Spike stepped in and stopped Buffy from spontaneously combusting during the song she was dancing to. Buffy had been taken by surprise so much so that she was unable to say anything in response to his arrival. From Dawn's perspective, he had good timing.

As for Spike, however... it was a different story altogether.

He opened his mouth, and what he sang to Buffy was quite... more of a shock to her instead of a surprise. And Dawn knew it, as did Sweet (if a demon like him was able to be shocked by anything, of course).

_Life's not a song  
Life isn't bliss  
Life is just this  
It's living_

Buffy was unable to find the words to sing in response to that, so she kept her lips closed. Undeterred by her silence, Spike went on.

_You'll get along  
The pain that you feel  
You only can heal  
By living  
You have to go one living  
So one of us is living_

Dawn nodded to herself as though in agreement when she remembered what she had said in reply to that. _"The hardest thing in this world... is to live in it."_

As much as it pained Buffy to realize it at the time, those words were very true.

_Out on the open road_  
_To destiny: unknown_  
_The future, it unfolds_  
_The story, yet untold_

_Got to be_  
_Got to be_  
_Got to be_  
_Got to believe_  
_Got to see it to believe_

After all, she had said them to Dawn before jumping off the tower, only to eventually have them echoed back to her by her own sister (as Dawn had a pretty good memory when it came to things like that).

And, sadly, memories were a part of the brain that were usually lost when dementia or Alzheimer's disease set in.

But, they could also be well-preserved if one exercised their mind like they would a muscle with puzzles and things – which, Dawn knew, made the mind grow stronger almost every time.

_Mental exercises, riddles, mysteries and enigmas – they are what make life so interesting, _Dawn thought as she wrote her thoughts in her journal that night.

_Wherever my heart beats  
I'm marching to the beat  
Whenever my soul sings  
I wanna be a key_

_Way off the beaten path_  
_I'm making my own tracks_  
_Across the desert sand_  
_Straight to the promise land_

_Got to be_  
_Got to be_  
_Got to be_  
_Got to believe_  
_Got to see it to believe_

_Got to be_  
_Got to be_  
_Got to be_  
_Got to believe_  
_Got to see it to believe_

She thought for a moment, and then added a few more paragraphs before closing her journal and putting it on her nightstand along with her pencil.

_Dear Journal,_

_I must say, it's the riddles and enigmas that often make life meaningful – if one wants it to be, of course. The mystery of why people think and act the way they do isn't easy to untangle, but it's kind of fun to explore things like that. _

_Plus, from my perspective, doing something fun is really neat too._

_Take going to the movies, for example. From one point of view, it's kind of fun to explore the secret side of yourself._

_The dark side. And by the ‛dark side' of life, I basically mean the side that you keep hidden in your everyday life because you know you're not supposed to go there on a daily basis unless it's absolutely necessary._

_Of course, from another perspective, it can be neat to want to really get deep into the whole, fantastical character thing. And if you're an actor or actress, it's also fun to explore the dark side of life in the movies and be that mean, evil person that's quite different from you in real life._

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**Well, what do you think? I hope you liked reading this as much as I did writing it. Hopefully, this will inspire you guys to try your hand at writing your own BtVS fanfic – be it regular or crossover. I hope so, anyway.**

**As usual, nice feedback is very much appreciated... :)**


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